Mission Statement
The mission of the Alabama Fire College and
Personnel Standards Commission
 is to provide training and certification
for the state's career and volunteer emergency service personnel located in
all regions of the state, as mandated by the Code of Alabama 36-32-1 through
36-32-12.
History of the Alabama Fire College
The State Fire College was created by Act No.
373, Regular Session, 1955. However, a program of fire department training
had been in existence since 1935 under the administration of the Trade and
Industrial Education Department, Division of Vocational Education, State
Department of Education.
It was not until 1963 that the Alabama
Legislature appropriated sufficient funds ($350,000) to build and equip a
fire training center. On January 14, 1965, an agreement was drawn and
reached between the State Department of Education, the City of Tuscaloosa,
and the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama allocating the site
for the training on its Northington Campus property. The construction was
not started until 1965 and an additional $158,000 was needed to complete the
training center and the drill tower and facilities.
In 1975, the Alabama Legislature passed the
Alabama Fire Fighters Personnel Standards and Education Act, which required
formal training for every fire fighter within the first twelve months after
joining a paid fire department. The office of this standards agency was set
up in Montgomery, Alabama.
In April 1981, the State Board of Education
placed the Alabama State Fire College with Shelton State Community College
for administrative purposes.
On May 13, 1988, through Act 88-663, the
Alabama Legislature merged the Alabama Fire Fighters Personnel Standards and
Education Commission and the Alabama State Fire College. The Personnel Standards Commission
, which
was housed in Montgomery, moved its operation to Tuscaloosa.
The original Alabama Fire College facility
consisted of the Fire College building and the drill field training center.
The Fire College facility contained a 200-seat auditorium, a classroom, a
bay for fire apparatus, a conference room, and office space for the staff.
In March 1998 the Alabama Fire College and
Personnel Standards Commission moved to their current facilities adjacent
to the campus of Shelton State Community College. These facilities
consist of three separate buildings; the administrative offices, drill tower
and smoke building.
Because of rapid growth, a separate
building was built to house the Emergency Medical Services Division in March
2001. This facility, located on the campus of the
Alabama Fire College, consists of
classrooms, office space and a laboratory for students to complete their
practical examinations.
We are continuously evolving and adding
training simulators to enhance the educational opportunities for our
students. The Alabama Fire College training
simulators include the concrete trench simulator, the arson burn house, the
ventilation house, the hazardous materials rail yard, and the structural
collapse simulators, which include four training stations – breaching and
breaking, indoor shoring, outdoor shoring and the lifting and moving
station.
Because of our innovation, the Alabama
Fire College has fast become
one of the premier training systems in the
United States. We will
continue our growth and expansion to better accommodate the needs of the
ever-changing fire and emergency services. |
